Co-benefits of primary energy conservation, reduced emissions and costs through biomass and waste incineration CHP in district heating

Energy utility companies face trade-offs in navigating through today’s environmental challenges. On the one hand, they face intense political, social and environmental pressures to move toward adopting energy systems that incorporate the use of renewable energy resources. By making this transition, they would contribute to carbon reduction and mitigate climate change. On the other hand, they need to coordinate their resources and become efficient when investing in new plants or upgrading existing production systems. This paper seeks to address the gains that utility companies can make when replacing older fossil-fuel-based plants with efficient combined heat and power (CHP) plants. We discuss the system effects from the changes in production of other units when new plants are constructed. Using one of the largest energy utility companies in Sweden, Fortum, as empirical point of departure, we analyzed the company’s transition from using coal and hydrocarbons to an increased use of renewables and waste incineration CHP. Our analysis was based on comprehensive production data on CO2, SOx and NOx emissions. Our findings suggest that primary energy consumption drops when older, less efficient fossil plants are substituted for new efficient CHP plants; this drop includes the effect on remaining production. The benefits in terms of primary energy savings might even be greater than what is achieved in meeting the goal of climate change abatement through reduced CO2 emissions; NOx and SOx emissions are decreased with new biomass CHPs. Waste incineration CHP increases NOx and SOx emissions, when there is less fossil fuel to replace after the use of biomass is extended. In both cases, economic efficiency increase as costs are reduced

In Pursuit of Closed-Loop Supply Chains for Critical Materials: An Exploratory Study in the Green Energy Sector

© 2018 by Yale University A closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) is considered not only an important solution for ensuring sustainable exploitation of materials, but also a promising strategy for securing long-term availability of materials. The latter is especially highlighted in the materials criticality discourse. Critical raw materials (CRMs), being exposed to supply disruptions, create an uncertain operational environment for many industries, particularly for green energy technologies that employ multiple CRMs. However, recycling rates of CRMs are very low and engagement of companies in CLSC for CRM is limited. This study examines factors influencing CLSC for CRM development in photovoltaic panels and wind turbine technologies. The aim is to analyze how the factors manifest themselves in different companies along the supply chain and to identify enabling and bottleneck conditions for implementation of CLSC for CRM. The novelty of the study is twofold: the focus on material rather than product flows, and examination of factors from a multiactor perspective. The evidence obtained suggests that the manufacturing companies and reverse supply-chain operators engaged in the study take different perspectives (product vs. material) regarding development of CLSC for CRM and thus emphasize different factors. The findings underline the need for interactions between supply-chain actors, a sound competitive environment for recycling processes, and investment in technologies and infrastructure development if CLSC for CRM is to be developed. The paper provides implications for practitioners and policy makers for implementation of CLSC for CRM, and suggests prospects for further research

The transformation to a circular economy: framing an evolutionary view

The notion of the circular economy (CE) has recently been put forth as a strategy to mitigate climate change. It has gained attention in policy circles and in the engineering and natural science literature. In contrast to the linear model of production, use and disposal, the point of departure for the CE is the creation and sustention of a regenerative system with the goal of minimising resource inputs and emissions. However, although the emerging literature has discussed the ongoing transition process towards the CE, mainly from an ecological perspective, the underlying mechanisms of industrial change including structural tensions have not been discussed. Responding to this gap in the literature, the aim of this paper is to discuss CE as an evolutionary process and to propose a conceptual framework that builds on a development block approach

Exploring supply chain configuration in the context of innovation practices: cases from Italy and Sweden

Extant literature often links innovation practices with supply chain (SC) research in introducing new product. However, the relation between SC configuration settings and innovation implementation is still not widely researched. This paper analyses how innovation implementation affects the decisions behind SC configuration. Moreover, we look into how this relation is manifested with respect to performance. An explorative investigation is carried out in two companies, implementing innovation, which have global and local supply chain configuration with different product characteristics and processes. The paper draws conclusions on the relations between innovation implementation, supply chain configuration and performance improvements (or failures)

Supply chain configuration, effectiveness and efficiency: Looking for the best fit

Companies struggle to properly react to customer demand, while maintaining efficient operations. For the sake of surviving market competition, they extended collaboration to external entities both globally and locally, since competition has over time moved from a company level to a supply chain level. This dependence on outsourcing, as well as increasing demand volatility, has elevated the complexity in managing a supply chain. Furthermore, companies are challenged by the trade-offs between service level and customer satisfaction (effectiveness) on the one hand, and cost reductions (efficiency) on the other hand. In an effort to overcome these challenges, companies should continuously take decisions on how to adjust their supply chain configuration. The (re-)Configuration of a supply chain is a decisive factor in supply chain costs, complexity and performance control. This paper is an attempt to provide literature-grounded analysis for alternative supply chain configuration scenarios, by comparing configuration settings within four different industry sectors, and supply chain different perspectives (global vs. local, and for-profit vs. not-for-profit). The study depicts relationships among supply chain configuration settings, effectiveness, and efficiency indicators. It contributes to researchers and practitioners in having a better understanding on how to achieve the most proper fit between configuration, efficiency and/or effectiveness

Asaaska Islamka

Buugan waxaa loogu taggalay soomaalida aan aqoon af-carbeedka, haddana doonaysa in ay kororsadaan aqoontooda xagga diinta Islaamka, gaar ahaan inta aasaasiga ah oo faafahsan, sida: 5ta tiir Islaam, 6da tiir Iimaan, xiriirka qoyska iyo adeegsiga shareecada Islaamka.Il testo è preparato per i somali non arabofoni che desiderano conoscere i dettami basilari dell'Islam, quali: i cinque pilastri dell'Islam, i sei pilastri della fede, la relazione familiare nonché l'applicazione della Shari'a.The book is meant for non-Arabic speaking Somalis willing to learn Islam's basic principles, such as: the five pillars of Islam, the six pillars of the faith, family relationships and the implementation of Shari'a

Evaluation of biochemical parameters in a sample of hypertensive Somalian subjects

The results of biochemical parameters directly related to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases have been evaluated in a randomized sample of 3000 Somalian hypertensives. Partition of the sample in three socio-economical classes shows thet dietary and behavioural habits of the higher socio-economical class are linked to considerable variations of lipid profile and atherogenic risk indicators with hyperuricemia and impaired glucose tolerance

Validity of self-reported weight and height: a cross-sectional study among Malaysian adolescents

Abstract Background Self-reported weight and height are commonly used in lieu of direct measurements of weight and height in large epidemiological surveys due to inevitable constraints such as budget and human resource. However, the validity of self-reported weight and height, particularly among adolescents, needs to be verified as misreporting could lead to misclassification of body mass index and therefore overestimation or underestimation of the burden of BMI-related diseases. The objective of this study was to determine the validity of self-reported weight and height among Malaysian secondary school children. Methods Both self-reported and directly measured weight and height of a subgroup of 663 apparently healthy schoolchildren from the Malaysian Adolescent Health Risk Behaviour (MyAHRB) survey 2013/2014 were analysed. Respondents were required to report their current body weight and height via a self-administrative questionnaire before they were measured by investigators. The validity of self-reported against directly measured weight and height was examined using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), the Bland-Altman plot and weighted Kappa statistics. Results There was very good intraclass correlation between self-reported and directly measured weight [r = 0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93, 0.97] and height (r = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.90, 0.96). In addition the Bland-Altman plots indicated that the mean difference between self-reported and direct measurement was relatively small. The mean difference (self-reported minus direct measurements) was, for boys: weight, −2.1 kg; height, −1.6 cm; BMI, −0.44 kg/m2 and girls: weight, −1.2 kg; height, −0.9 cm; BMI, −0.3 kg/m2. However, 95% limits of agreement were wide which indicated substantial discrepancies between self-reported and direct measurements method at the individual level. Nonetheless, the weighted Kappa statistics demonstrated a substantial agreement between BMI status categorised based on self-reported weight and height and the direct measurements (kappa = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.67, 0.84). Conclusion Our results show that the self-reported weight and height were consistent with direct measurements and therefore can be used in assessing the nutritional status of Malaysian school children from the age of 13 to 17 years old in epidemiological studies and for surveillance purposes when direct measurements are not feasible, but not for assessing nutritional status at the individual level